If you were a fans of the 30 episodes (or 42, if you count the minis) that made up our first season; don’t worry. Our commitment to a tightly produced travel podcast where we tell the stories from our everyday experiences of our travels around the world remains. We’re just getting a little help from the friends we meet along the way!

Long-time listeners of ours (we’ve been at this podcasting thing for over a decade now!) will be thrilled by the new format. We’re injecting more of what you love -- the energy and fun that develops when we banter back and forth. Naturally and unscripted!

And if you’re brand new to our program: welcome! Thank you for subscribing to the show. We’ll do our very best to produce a weekly travel-focused podcast unlike anything you’ve heard before. Hopefully, we’ll inspire other travel podcasters to share their stories in a similar way, too!

We share two travel stories on today’s program, one from Vietnam and one from Hong Kong:

1. The BB Clee (Hue, Vietnam)

Over a can of mass produced Vietnamese beer called Huda, Evo tries to convince Sheila of his latest epiphany: The Beer Based Cost Of Living Index.

In theory (and we’re stretching the definition), you can determine the entire cost of living of a country based solely on the price of an average beer at an average bar. No, it doesn’t work for craft beer and it doesn’t work in The States or other places where bars hike up the price of a beer hundreds of percentage points over their cost. But as you’ll hear Evo explain, it does seem to hold true across parts of Vietnam, where the price of beer ranges from 15,000 - 25,000 Dong (totally not making that up) and in Thailand, where a bottle will run you between 50 - 80 Baht.

2. Quarter Life Crisis (Hong Kong)

After the better part of a year living as full time travelers, we've covered the gamut of accommodations. Five star resorts, cheap hostels, private bedrooms. And then we went to Hong Kong.

Grant was our boat mate for a few days while we were in Hong Kong. And by "boat mate", I mean we shared a boat in Aberdeen Harbor. A very nice boat, but still a boat. That was interesting. Luckily, so was Grant.

Most people who come [to Hong Kong] from abroad come here because they like being abroad.

— Grant Yang, 20-something finance wiz

Originally born in China, Grant returned (well, to Hong Kong) after graduating college to pursue a career in Finance. We get a little history lesson about moving capitals, why Hong Kong is a great jumping off point for world explorers, and some oddities you’ll need to be prepared for when you visit Hong Kong. Like having to ask and pay for napkins at restaurants!

Oh, and about that quarter life crisis? Apparently, traveling is the new form of narcissism. Don’t tell us that, Grant!

And that’s the show!

What do you think the new format of the new season? Let us know by emailing, Tweeting, Facebooking, or just plain commenting on the blog. We would love to hear from you!

Special thanks to Kevin MacLeod of Incompetech.com for our theme music Upbeat Forever and all of the music used in this episode. See you next week from Sydney, Australia!

Funding for this podcast and all the great content we produce is made possible by listeners just like you. Visit ShEvo.wtf/postcards to pledge your support, and get a hand written postcard each month as we travel abroad.

Additional funding provided by TravelSmith. Inspiring people to go places they've never been, and keeping us looking smart and well-outfitted on our journey.

And if you want to travel the world… it’s cheaper than you think! Visit ShEvo.wtf for more details, and click on the Housesitting link to find out exactly how we afford to travel the world in style.

New episodes of the The Opportunistic Travelers Podcast are available every Tuesday. Of course, Tuesday can be a very different thing depending on where we are in the world. Cheers!

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All content on TheOpportunisticTravelers.com is owned by and was created by Evo Terra and Sheila Dee. If you want to use it, that's cool with us, so long as you follow the principles of Creative Commons licensing. Attribution is required. If you want to use anything commercially, please get our permission first. Groovy? Groovy.